Seeking Freedom

One of the key metaphors for African American slavery is freedom, as those held in the bondage of slavery struggled with a nearly absolute lack of such a commodity. Consistently held or forced against their own will, African Americans sought to have freedom, which included freedom from certain things that oppressed them as well as freedom for abilities and options that they did not have access to. This paper is a study of the slave�s search for �freedom from� and �freedom for,� and distinguishes between the two by using excerpts and stories from Vincent Harding�s essay, Religion and Resistance Among Antebellum Slaves, 1800 � 1860, and attempts to show how some slaves obtained these freedoms.

A revolt broke out aboard the vessel Amistad in 1839, leading to the freedom of Joseph Cinquez and other Africans being brought to America to be slaves. As the group prepared to return to their native continent, one of the rebels said, �We owe everything to God: he keeps us alive and makes us free.� This freedom that the rebel mentions is freedom from being in chains and freedom from being sold as property into slavery, and by revolting, these potential slaves had achieved that freedom.

Other individuals were not as fortunate as the rebels on the Amistad, and as slaves in America grew accustomed to the system of abuse, they began to long for the freedom to do and to have certain things. A young Frederick Douglass exclaimed this issue to his uncle by stating, �I am a slave, and a slave for life, how can I do anything?� Slaves wanted freedom for the ability to gain knowledge and to practice religion, but were often denied such freedoms. Frederick Douglass, for example, attempted to organize a Sabbath School for young black people and was subsequently threatened by several local Methodists.

The hardness of slavery led many slaves to stop seeking for any sort of freedoms within the constraints of the system, but instead to begin searching for freedom from slavery altogether. Several instances of insurrection can help illustrate this example of �freedom from.� Under the cry of �Death or Liberty,� Henrico County�s Gabriel built a force of thousands wishing to be free. Nat Turner believed himself to be carrying out the work of Christ by killing all those that have relations to slave holding. The twelve Knights of Tabor allegedly organized 150,000 troops, planning to liberate all slaves in the South.

Another method of obtaining freedom from slavery was that of suicide. According to Harding, �Death and self-mutilation were preferred to slavery.� Explaining a story about two parents �[sending] the souls of their children to Heaven� and then killing each other, Harding asks, �Is it impossible to conceive that a religion that stressed the reality of heaven after death might strengthen slaves to leave their bondage for the freedom they had heard was ahead?�

Finally, the act of running away was yet another liberator from slavery. Many slaves decided that submitting to slavery was not the will of God, and that making a run for the North would grant them their freedom. Frederick Douglass explained the duality of a certain spiritual by saying, �It simply meant a speedy pilgrimage to a free state, and deliverance from all the evils and dangers of slavery.� At the time of her escape, Harriet Tubman, described by one of her more radical biographers, ��was ready to kill for freedom, if that was necessary, and defend the act as her religious right.�

African Americans who were free from slavery had their own freedom concerns, as they sought freedom for an egalitarian community and equal treatment. In 1818, more than 4,000 of the African Americans at Charleston�s Methodist congregation withdrew their membership and established an independent congregation called the African Church of Charleston. The church�s autonomy granted the group its want of freedom for independence.

In conclusion, the quest for freedom is the common theme for slaves in all situations in America. Many individuals went to great lengths to achieve the aspect of freedom that they desired, and some succeeded, but as one freedom gets obtained, usually another type of freedom is still needed. The want of �freedom from� led slaves to decisive action, and the search of �freedom for� brought out the cunning side of the slaves. Today, African Americans seek new freedoms, and look to their past successes for understanding and support.